of Christ, and gather his disciples into churches, as we see Peter doing (Acts ix. 32.;) and that when it became no longer necessary for them to remain with that church they proceeded to carry into effect the commission which the Lord Jesus had given them, to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.* It appears from credible records, that the gospel was preached in Idumea, Syria, and Mesopotamia, by Jude; in Egypt, Mamorica, Mauritania, and other parts of Africa, by Mark, Simeon, and Jude; in Ethiopia by the Eunuch and Matthias; in Pontus, Galatia, and the neighbouring parts of Asia, by Peter; in the territories of the seven Asiatic churches by John; in Parthia by Matthew; in Scythia by Philip and Andrew; in the northern and western parts of Asia by Bartholomew; in Persia by Simeon and Jude; in Media, Carmania, &c. by Thomas; from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum by Paul, who also published it in Italy, and probably in Spain, Gaul, and Britain.† James, the brother of the apostle John, and son of Zebedee, as we have formerly noticed, had been put to death by Herod; and, if we may credit Jerome, Peter also was put to death in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, about the same time that Paul finished his course and was taken to receive the crown of righteousness which his divine Master had promised to bestow upon him. By this time, also, James, the Lord's brother, had sealed his testimony with his blood. The following account of his death is given us by Josephus the Jewish historian. "Ananus, who had seized the office of high priest, was a man bold in his temper, and very insolent. He was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who surpass all the other Jews in their rigid manner of judging offenders; and he thought he now had a proper opportunity of exercising his authority. Festus * Mark xvi. 15. Young's History of Idolatrous Corruptions in Religion, vol i. p 216-240. See also a Sermon by Dr. Geo. Campbell, entitled "The Success of the Gospel a proof of its truth." was dead, and Albinus, who had been sent into Judea to succeed him, was upon his journey thither. So he assembled the Sanhedrim of judges, and brought before him the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others of his companions, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned."* Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, gives a somewhat different account of the death of James, and thinks he was killed, not in consequence of a judicial trial, but in a popular tumult, the occasion of which he thus explains. "When Paul had appealed unto Cæsar, and had been sent to Rome by Festus, the Jews who had aimed at his death, turned their rage against James the Lord's brother, who had been appointed by the apostles, bishop of Jerusalem." These different accounts and the fact itself is un are certainly not irreconcileable, questionable, that he was put to death by the Jews, about the year 64, and only a short time after the writing of that excellent epistle which forms a part of the sacred canon. The divine long-suffering was, however, now fast drawing towards a close with the devoted city and people of Jerusalem. The measure of their iniquities was at length filled up. To all their former crimes they had now added these, that "they had both killed the Lord Jesus, and persecuted his servants the apostles" even unto death; and the wrath of Heaven was about to come upon them to the uttermost. Christ himself, during his personal ministry, had foretold their doom, and bewailed it in the most pathetic strains. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not behold your house is left unto you desolate." For "the days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and keep thee * Antiq. b. 20. ch. 9. Eccles. Hist.b. 2. ch. 23. ↑ Luke xiii. 34. in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another."* As the accomplishment of these predictions ended in the utter abolition of the Jewish church and state, a constitution which was originally founded in divine appointment, and had existed during a period of fifteen hundred years; and, as it was unquestionably the most awful revolution in all the religious dispensations of God, and which, moreover, in various ways, contributed greatly to the success of the gospel, it seems to merit a more detailed account than is generally to be found of it in the histories of the Christian church. NERO, the Roman emperor, whose death has been already adverted to, left the empire in a state of extreme confusion, and Judea partook of it in a remarkable degree. To him succeeded Galba, who reigned from June the 9th, 68, to the 15th January 69, when he was followed by Otho, who scarcely swayed the imperial sceptre three months. Then came Vitellius, who reigned no longer than to the 21st December of the same year-there having been, if we include Nero who preceded, and Vespasian who followed, no less than five different emperors in the short space of eighteen months; during which the empire was a scene of confusion, desolation and misery. It has been remarked that Christianity at first derived some advantages from the abandoned characters of the Roman emperors, who at this time swayed the sceptre. They had other crimes and other mischiefs in view, which left them little leisure to harass a sect so contemptible, when compared with Paganism, as was that of the Christians. Accordingly, from the death of Christ to that of Vespasian, for about the space of thirtyseven years, the Romans paid little regard to the progress of the gospel. They were ruled by weak, frantic, or vicious emperors; the magistrates and senators, and every worthy man of any note, stood in continual fear for their own lives. * Luke xix. 43, 44. Nero indeed had destroyed many of the Christians at Rome; but it was for a supposed crime, of which all the world knew them to be innocent; so that this cruel treatment raised compassion, and rather did service than harm to the Christian cause, and the persecution was soon over. After the death of king Herod Agrippa, the particulars of which the reader will find recorded Acts xii., Judea again became a province of the Roman empire, and CusPIUS FADUS was sent to be its governor. Upon his arrival he found the country infested with banditti, which were grown both numerous and powerful, whom he was compelled to suppress, and also to quell an insurrection which the Jews had raised against the inhabitants of Philadelphia, formerly the city of Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites. During the government of Fadus, there arose a notable impostor, named Theudas, who drew great numbers of the deluded Jews after him, inviting them to follow him beyond Jordan, and promising them that he would divide the waters of that river, as Joshua had done by his single word. Fadus sent some military troops against him and his followers, who killed some and took others prisoners, and among the latter Theudas himself, whom he caused to be beheaded, and his head brought to Jerusalem.* Fadus was soon afterwards succeeded by TIBERIUS ALEXANDER, an apostate Jew, who very shortly gave way to make room for VENTIDIUS CUMANUS, during whose government of Judea, those troubles began which ended in the ruin of the Jewish nation. The great concourse of people which their festival brought to Jerusalem, obliged the Romans at such times to keep a guard before the gate of the temple to prevent tumults. It was now the passover, when one of the Roman soldiers upon duty, had the impudence, probably intending an insult to the Jews by showing that he was not of the circumcision, to expose his nakedness. This indignity roused the resentment of the Jews to such a height, that Joseph. antiq. b. 20. ch. 1. and 5. they went and complained of it to Cumanus, and very insultingly told him that the affront was offered by his order, not merely to the nation but to their God. Cumanus at first tried to appease them by fair means, but finding them grow more tumultuous, he ordered all his troops to the spot, which so alarmed them that they fled in the greatest consternation, insomuch that ten thousand (Eusebius and Jerome say thirty thousand) were stifled to death in their flight, by running over one another in the confined avenues that led to and from the temple.* Cumanus was soon afterwards succeeded in the government of Judea by CLAUDIUS FELIX, under whom the Jewish affairs proceeded in a progressive course of deterioration. The country swarmed with robbers and insurgents, and Jerusalem itself became the prey of false prophets and pretended workers of miracles, who were continually blowing the embers of discontent and sedition. Add to which, that numbers of Sicarii or assassins crowded into all the cities and towns of the country, committing the most horrible murders, under the pretext of zeal for their religion and liberties. Felix did not content himself with merely inflicting punishment upon those who violated the public peace, but he extended it to almost all others indiscriminately whom his avarice or resentment marked out for destruction. His cruel behaviour induced a very old priest named Jonathan, who had been instrumental in procuring him the office, to complain of his ill conduct; which Felix at length becoming unable to bear, procured a person in whom Jonathan reposed great confidence, to assassinate the latter, and it was accordingly done. This murder going unpunished, because the person who should have avenged it was the instigator to it, proved the occasion of an almost infinite number of others, which were committed every where, the temple not excepted; insomuch that the Jewish chiefs, and even the pontiff's made no hesitation of hiring the assassins *Joseph. antiq. b. 20. ch. 5. |